One of Chrysler's most significant contributions to automotive design is the mini-van. Prior to the mini-van, consumers had to choose between the cramped cargo space of a station wagon or a truck-like full size van. The minivan changed this by offering car like feel with van sized interior space.
In early minivan designs, it was necessary to completely remove the second and third rows of seats. While clever designs generally permitted this to be accomplished without tools and with relative ease; the bulkiness of a folded seat generally made this a two person job.
More contemporary mini-vans have eliminated the necessity of removing the seats with a variety of clever designs for seats that fold, or “fold and tumble.” A number of these seats are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,931 (folding rear seat); U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,641 (tiered folding seats); and U.S. Pat. No. 6,174,017 (dumping and articulating seat).
While rear seats that fold and stow represent an improvement over removable seats, a folded seat still takes up interior space and yields a less than uniform cargo surface. One solution to this problem is providing “tubs” in the vehicle floor into which the seats “fold and stow.” When stowed, a portion of the seat back or bottom is positioned flush with the portion of the vehicle floor surrounding the tub such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,581 (storage structure for a collapsible seat).
Regardless of the precise mechanism and configuration for folding seats into the vehicle floor, the overall goal is to provide a cargo area that is free of protrusions and indentations. The usual design configuration involves configuring the seat bottom or the rear of the seat back rest so that it is flat and presented at the same level as the vehicle floor. However, a number of holes and indentations often remain around a portion of is the folded seat. These holes and indentations are undesirable because they tend to collect dirt and debris and affect a user's ability to easily slide and position objects on the vehicle floor.
One solution to this problem is to provide panels configured to cover the holes and indentations left when the seat is folded down. These panels are generally stowed somewhere under a seat and fitted into place by the vehicle user after folding down the seat. Such a solution has a number of drawbacks. If not attached somehow, such panels are easily lost or misplaced. Even if attached, such panels require an additional step to rearrange the vehicle seats in a cargo configuration. Because such panels usually have narrow lip, they must be made of a stiff, strong material, such as plywood, which adds to overall vehicle weight and expense.